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Having surrendered nine touchdowns over the last 15 times they’ve been on the field, the last thing the slumping Los Angeles Rams defense needed was a matchup with the New England Patriots and their future Hall of Fame quarterback quarterback Tom Brady.

Asking a Rams defense to capture its swagger against Brady is like asking a slumping baseball team to wake up its bats against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.

Rams defenders openly accepted blame for their horrendous showing last week against Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints, in which they surrendered 49 points and 555 yards of total offense.

“Any time you allow a team to score 49 points on you, you’re going to be down,” defensive tackle Aaron Donald said. “That is not the way we play. We were on our high horse on the defensive side of the ball for a minute but they knocked us off. Sometimes you need stuff like that. We’re hungry so we know what we need to do this week.”

Defensive end William Hayes was even more blunt.

"We should've played for free, the way we got our (butt) kicked,” Hayes told reporters. “Defensively, I know when we step out there on the field, we can never accept that.

“I won’t be happy until Sunday comes around. It was just embarrassing all the way around.”

Head coach Jeff Fisher believed the defense played hard against the Saints but simply was unable to make plays, adding there were some issues within the scheme. But Fisher believes the Rams have ironed out the issues.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said the defensive breakdown was a result of Brees making a lot of nice plays and his defense making a few mistakes.

“A couple of those point-of-attack mistakes were explosive and point producing,” Williams said. “Our guys have really, really responded well this week to that. Sometimes you get a wake-up call. We’ve been pretty dominant for four or five weeks and, all of a sudden, that wakes you up. I haven’t had any problem holding their attention in the meetings this week.”

Both Fisher and Williams admit that it’s a little easier to get their defensive players focused knowing Brady is going to be under center Sunday.

“They understand the challenge this week,’ Fisher said. “We’re certainly not looking ahead to next week or the following week, but we’ve got some good quarterbacks on our schedule. They understand this challenge and they know they need to be right.”

The Rams appear excited to test their skills against Brady.

Having been in the league just three years, defensive back LaMarcus Joyner has not had a chance to face Brady on the playing field. His familiarity with Brady comes from playing the Madden video game.

“If you have him as your quarterback (in Madden), you are going to be in the Super Bowl every year," Joyner said. “To go against a great quarterback like him could not be a better challenge for me personally.

“He is one of the best in history. When you have a quarterback who can make the guys around him just as good as he is, you have to play disciplined, sound football. You have to keep fighting.”

Teams like the Denver Broncos and New Your Giants have had success against Brady and the New England offense by using a strong pass rush to disrupt the timing between Brady and his receivers. The Rams have enough talent on the defensive line to put some pressure on Brady.

Donald says the main goal is to get after Brady, but he knows it won’t be easy.

“They will try to do stuff to slow us down but we have to find a way to get pressure on him and get sacks,” Donald said. “We have a game plan; we just have to execute.”

As one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL, Donald takes pride in taking on the challenge of top quarterbacks like Brady and Brees. He managed to sack Brees last week and has his sights set on an in-game meeting with Brady.

“He’s one of the best that has ever played the game so you want to get him,” Donald said. “When you play against a quarterback like that, you have to eliminate mistakes and play smart.

“Guys like that (Brady and Brees) do a lot of different things to slow a good pass rush down. They start blocking you by themselves by getting the ball out faster and sliding protection. They are the best. You have to understand they will do different things but you still have to get to them.”

Stopping the Patriots offense got a little easier after All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski had back surgery and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

But Williams said there’s still plenty to worry about even without Gronkowski.

“Every game takes on a different personality within the game, but they’ve been practicing all week without him anyway, so they’ve got a plan,” Williams said. “Martellus Bennett is a pretty good tight end. He can pretty much do everything that Gronk was doing anyways. Probably all of us won’t see a whole lot of change because this is the profile that’s best for them. If it does change, then we have to react in the game to see what people they bring out there.”